COVODE INVESTIGATION

I.326.1

COVODE INVESTIGATION, a proceeding which occupied much of the first session of the 36th congress, 1859-60. Two anti-Lecompton democratic members of the house declared in debate that the administration had endeavored to influence them corruptly to vote for the Lecompton bill. A committee of five, with Covode of Pennsylvania at its head, investigated the charge for three months, the republican majority finding the president guilty, and the democratic minority exonerating him. President Buchanan protested against the investigation. No action was taken by the house on the report. (See KANSAS; DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN PARTY, V.)

The cuneiform inscription in the Liberty Fund logo is the earliest-known written appearance of the word "freedom" (amagi), or "liberty." It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.